Cherry Fenderbird ~ Luthiery Laboratories

Cherry Fenderbird

For those of you who thought my Stratocaster bass was an abomination, feast your eyes on this. The MusicmanBird. ThunderJazzRay. FenderManBird. I just call it FenderBird #2.

Specs:

Body: Thunderbird, cherry, Danish oil finish - someone's abandoned project from eBay
Neck: Mighty Mite Jazz bass, 34" maple
Logos: inkjet-printed waterslide decals under satin lacquer - hobby shop
Tuners, neck plate, misc hardware: GFS
Pickup: MusicMan-style, alnico, 2.5k/coil, 4-wire - Guitar Jones ?
Bridge: MusicMan-style cheap Chinese knockoff, top-strung - eBay
Pickguards & control cover: scrap material from old project
Fasteners: bright stainless steel - marine supplies store
Knobs: Precision bass dome style, Rickenbacker layout - parts box
Electronics: Guitar Fuel SBK-2 active bass & treble + 4-way pickup switch & dead-battery passive switch
Strings: d'Addario 50-105 roundwound

As oriented in the picture, the controls are:

North: volume, pull for passive output (dead battery)
East: bass 12db boost/cut, center detent
South: treble 12db boost/cut, center detent
West: pickup mode, 4-way rotary switch

Basses, Body - Bought, Body - Solid, Electronics - Active, Gibson, Long-Scale Basses, Neck - Bought, Projects,

Gibson Projects

Gibson Fenderbird Bass 1

Gibson Fenderbird Bass 2

Gibson Reverse Fenderbird Bass

Samick SG450 Guitar

The "Fenderbird" is a mash-up of a Gibson Thunderbird body and a Fender neck. You'd expect such a thing to be a mutt, but this mutt comes with a great pedigree - invented by no less than John Entwistle of The Who.

More: Gibson Projects ...

Long-Scale Basses

Basses built with the standard scale length of 34 inches.

Long-Scale Basses

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Hand Saws

Here is a terrific little saw handle that takes Sawzall blades. It comes with an array of blades, including the dangerously sharp flush-cut and rather dodgy drywall blades, and a few others that I've long since used up, but it will fit any Sawzall blade. But what really makes this thing great is when I started making my own blades - all the small ones along the right. I cut these from much larger Sawzall blades that I bought, using an angle grinder, and shaping them on the bench grinder. Sawzall blades all cut on the pull stroke, but as you can see, two of these blades cut on the push stroke, because I cut them reversed from the parent blade. The tangs are easy to make. Push blades are good for cutting through finished or laminated surfaces. These little blades give me a hand-held jigsaw, very useful for many loothery tasks. This saw is a Craftsman, so you better hustle on down to your local Sears and get one before it closes. Mine is on the death list. StewMac should pick up this idea.

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